The Imperial Chronicles: WWE Talents Unhappy

Ever since reports started to come in last week about Neville walking out of WWE, There has been so much speculation regarding him, and several other WWE signed performers being unhappy within the company. We have not reported much about it because quite frankly…it’s all merely speculation! However, as the rumors don’t seem to be going away, we now feel obliged to run through everything that’s being said and try to make sense of it all for you guys.

However, as the rumors don’t seem to be going away, we now feel obliged to run through everything that’s being said and try to make sense of it all for you guys. But remember, absolutely none of this has been confirmed as of press time.

Neville Walking Out

There is still no update yet on the status of Neville’s release from WWE. He will need to be granted a release and probably wait an additional 90 days before he can work for another wrestling company. It’s clear that he was not happy with how things were going for him in WWE. I can say that there were people in the cruiserweight division that were not happy about Enzo Amore being pushed ahead of them and that might have been the last straw for Neville.

Various reports claim that Neville was frustrated with the direction of his character and lack of pay-offs. It’s rumored Neville balked at the idea of losing to Amore on the October 9th edition of Monday Night Raw. We do know for a fact that he was not at the show and I am assuming that he chose not to go to Raw after being told what the plans were for him.

More Reports claim that Neville’s issues with the company were not new because he was miserable since January. He was said to be very unhappy about his Cruiserweight title match with Austin Aries being moved to the WrestleMania Kickoff show, which meant that he and Aries would not get royalties because the match would not be included in the DVD and Blu-Ray. Before his WWE release, Aries also expressed frustration about not getting royalties for the match. Neville was infuriated because he would often wrestle hurt, tired and with minimal complaints and the company would disregard his service and value and felt that he was being used as the “get-over-guy” to enhance other talents. Well, it certainly appeared to be the case with Amore’s recent push.

Nia Jax’s Unhappiness With WWE

Firstly, we must stress that Nia has not walked out from WWE! She asked more a leave of absence, and it was granted. Nia is also rumored to be unhappy with her spot and the size of her paychecks in WWE. Reportedly, she feels her family connection to the Rock means she should be getting more money and more opportunities (such as being the first person to work with Asuka on the main roster) in the company. If this is true, most would perceive her to be someone with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and I doubt WWE will meet her demands.

Several Talents Asking Cody Rhodes For Advice

While no names have been mentioned, reports of many WWE Stars asking Cody for advice regarding leaving the company and trying to make it on their own in the Indies/Japan/Mexico is the only rumor floating around right now that I’m confident enough to believe to be 100% true!

Cody worked his arse off in WWE for a decade and did everything asked of him (Dashing Cody, Damaged Cody, Mustached Cody, Brothers Rhodes Cody and Stardust) tried and succeeded turning some of it into gold! Pretty much everyone agreed the guy was being wasted in WWE and kept getting given less than stellar gimmicks to work with. People thought he was mad to leave WWE and bet on himself at first. Even people like Bret Hart claimed that if he had stayed, WWE’s higher-ups and creative team would eventually see what they were missing out on and make him a main event level star. But after a decade, Cody’s patience had run dry, and he was willing to bet on himself. And clearly, the gamble has paid off!

With his deals with Ring of Honor and New Japan, plus his cut of the Bullet Club merchandise sales…Cody is reportedly making three times the money he was making in WWE. Some people may scoff at such reports, but the fact is that 90% of WWE Wrestlers are on a shockingly low base salary. Sure they get show bonuses and merchandise checks on top of that, but unless your one of say fifteen people who are either working main events or the upper mid-card in the company…that money probably doesn’t even come close to paying for their travel or accommodation while on tour.

With his deals with Ring of Honor and New Japan, plus his cut of the Bullet Club merchandise sales…Cody is reportedly making three times the money he was making in WWE. Some people may scoff at such reports, but the fact is that 90% of WWE Wrestlers are on a shockingly low base salary. Sure they get show bonuses and merchandise checks on top of that, but unless your one of say fifteen people who are either working main events or the upper mid-card in the company…that money probably doesn’t even come close to paying for their travel or accommodation while touring for WWE. When you add all this up, it’s not so hard to believe that a Pro Wrestler working the Indys/Japan/Mexico could be making more money than the majority of Pro Wrestlers working for WWE!

The level of success Cody has achieved has got to embolden more than a few WWE signed stars who are in the same position Cody was in just over a year ago. And with Vince McMahon and Co. seemingly devoting the majority of their focus to pet projects like Roman Reigns and Jinder Mahal (with debatably mixed results), the idea of trying your luck on the ever-growing world of Pro Wrestling that’s located outside the WWE sphere has got to be tempting! And honestly, I will be shocked if more WWE stars didn’t start giving into that temptation.

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